The Art of the Model

Lee Miller was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1907 and became one of the great beauties of her time. She was photographed constantly by her father, Theodore Miller, an amateur enthusiast. She suffered rape at seven, contracted gonorrhoea and endured years of painful and invasive treatment. Perhaps these experiences made her a Surrealist before she ever went to Paris. Her name transmuted from Elizabeth to Li-Li to Lee.

In 1927 she began her modelling career on the cover of American 'Vogue', and was photographed by the greatest talents of the day. Perhaps because of her training in theatre arts, in Paris in 1925 and afterwards at Vassar College, she excelled in enacting the narratives of fashion photography. In 1929 she sought out Man Ray in Paris and became his pupil, lover and muse. She also starred in Jean Cocteau's landmark film 'The Blood of a Poet' (1930).